User menu

Dem Pollster: ‘We’re In The Summer Of Our Discontent’

President hits new low in NBC/WSJ poll; 64% say recession still having an impact on them personally

A new NBC New/WSJ poll presents an American people more frustrated with the president and leadership in Washington than ever, with the president’s approval rating at a new low for the poll, over 70% believing the country is heading in the wrong direction, and more than 6 in 10 Americans saying they are still being impacted personally by the recession.

Democratic pollster Peter Hart conducted the survey with Republican pollster Bill McInturff, and their findings were clear: American is “fed up” with the president and the two parties. “We’re in the summer of our discontent,” said Hart.

President Obama’s approval fell to 40%, the lowest ever for the poll and similar to the results of many other national polls. As has been true for years, Congress faired even worse, at a dismal 14%. As for Americans’ perspective on the economy: 49% said they believe the country is still in a recession (a slight improvement from recent polls), while 64% said they are still impacted personally by it.

Perhaps most interesting, though, is that 57% of Americans polled said they were upset enough that they’d be willing to take to the street and carry a protest sign for day. NBC created word clouds to show what protest-worthy issues came up the most for both parties:

A few more key findings from the poll:

40 percent say someone in their household lost a job in the past five years;

27 percent say they have more than $5,000 in student-loan debt for either themselves or their children;

20 percent have more than $2,000 in credit card debt they are unable to pay off month to month;

and 17 percent say they have a parent or a child over 21 years old living with them for financial or health reasons.

In his summary analysis of the survey results, McInturff predicted “a good Republican cycle, but not like the wave elections we saw in ’06 or ’10.”